Investors have repeatedly voted against the salary and bonuses of these companies at annual meetings. Yet the companies appear to have dug in their heels—often because they have founders who still run the business.

The say-on-pay votes required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial legislation were intended to provide a curb on skyrocketing executive-compensation packages. But at a couple of dozen companies, shareholders are repeatedly rejecting pay packages, leading boards to demonstrate just what the “non” part of “nonbinding” means.

Next year’s proxy season is shaping up to look vastly different after U.S. securities regulators released new guidance for proxy advisory firms this week. The new guidance, aimed at shedding light on conflicts of interest at the firms, could reveal more about the consulting work proxy advisers do and proxy voting mechanics.

Fresh off his success in convincing the European Parliament to support auditor rotation, European Internal Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier is taking aim at executive pay.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed measures aimed at giving more rights to shareholders, including a binding “say-on-pay” shareholder vote on executive compensation. The U.S., by contrast, gave shareholders a non-binding vote as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms.

Companies are less likely to receive a thumbs-down from shareholders on their executive pay packages or even see a negative recommendation from proxy advisers.

So far this proxy season, companies are on average getting 93% support from shareholders on “say-on-pay,” according to a review of 170 early votes from Russell 3000 companies from consulting firm Towers Watson. Last year, the average was 90%.

Corporate boards and institutional investors have very different views about how well the U.S. executive pay model is working, but neither group thinks a pay-ratio disclosure rule for chief executives will help.

Corporate America is running into trouble in China. The latest batch of quarterly earnings shows that China has become a weak spot for many companies— just as European economies are showing signs of stabilizing and the U.S. economy is waking up, the WSJ’s Ruth Bender and Kate Linebaugh write. “Don’t kid yourself,” says Pernod Ricard CEO Pierre Pringuet. “When a country falls from double-digit growth to 7.5%, there are repercussions.”